System Center: Windows PowerShell in System Center Operations ManagerMarco Shaw - August 2008Windows PowerShell has been integrated into System Center Operations Manager 2007, offering a powerful way to perform and automate common administrative tasks. Get an overview of how you can use Windows PowerShell in OpsMgr to perform routine maintenance, manage agents, and more.

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Deploying Windows Server 2008 with System CenterTim Mintner - March 2008It used to be that server administrators would install Windows Server manually using the CD or DVD and then spend several hours configuring the server. With the release of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, server administrators can now use the same tools that desktop administrators have been using for years to automate deployments.

System Center: New Software Update Management ToolsSteve Rachui - October 2007With System Center Configuration Manager 2007, you'll find a completely new mechanism for dealing with update management that ensures better compliance and enforcement on each client. Learn how this improved approach can help you get all of your machines up-to-date.

System Center: New Software Update Management ToolsSteve Rachui - October 2007With System Center Configuration Manager 2007, you'll find a completely new mechanism for dealing with update management that ensures better compliance and enforcement on each client. Learn how this improved approach can help you get all of your machines up-to-date.

System Center: Deploy Apps and Updates to Your Branch OfficesSteve Rachui - August 2007Branch distribution points, one of the new features in Configuration Manager 2007, might appear at first to be a fairly minor addition. But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that it offers new, indispensible capabilities for managing software distribution to branch offices.

System Center: Deploy Apps and Updates to Your Branch OfficesSteve Rachui - August 2007Branch distribution points, one of the new features in Configuration Manager 2007, might appear at first to be a fairly minor addition. But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that it offers new, indispensible capabilities for managing software distribution to branch offices.

Utility Spotlight: SMSMapJeff Tondt - July 2007Seeing the whole SMS hierarchy as a picture can help you quickly understand how your infrastructure is laid out. This handy tool automates creation of your infrastructure diagram in Visio via COM.

Management: Advanced Client Inventories with SMSWes Dobry - April 2007Out of the box, Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003 collects a lot of information, but it doesn’t collect nearly as much as you may need. Find out how the right combination of scripting, WMI, and SMS knowledge can help you expand SMS inventories to collect and report almost any morsel of information.

Management: Deploying Custom Software Updates with SMS 2003 R2Steve Rachui - April 2007Systems Management Server 2003 R2 lets you use managedupdate features to deploy custom updates. Explore two new tools—the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and the Custom Updates Publishing Tool—and see how they can help you deploy your own updates as well as updates from thirdparty developers.

Management: Deploying Custom Software Updates with SMS 2003 R2Steve Rachui - April 2007Systems Management Server 2003 R2 lets you use managedupdate features to deploy custom updates. Explore two new tools—the Inventory Tool for Custom Updates and the Custom Updates Publishing Tool—and see how they can help you deploy your own updates as well as updates from thirdparty developers.

Windows Administration: Monitoring Active Directory with MOMJohn Hann - February 2007Management packs for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 allow you to more effectively monitor your IT infrastructure. See how these five management packs can help you keep an eye on the health, security, and reliability of your Active Directory environment.

System Management: Essential Tools for MOM AdministrationDave Cristini, Matt Goedtel, and Eric Kamor - September 2006The MOM 2005 Resource Kit was recently refreshed and some handy new tools were added. Here’s a quick overview of some of the best utilities that will help you get a lot more out of MOM.

System Management: Customize SMS Using Local PoliciesJeff Tondt - September 2006Do you need to override SMS site settings for just a few machines or configure specific settings for only some clients? Find out how SMS 2003 local policies let you configure custom policy on a per-client basis.

How IT Works: SMS Client-Side Software InstallationSteve Rachui - July 2006When configuring a software package for distribution in Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003, the administrator must choose the user context under which the software will be installed—either the logged-on user or the administrative context.

Patch Management: A Hands-On Guide to Hands-Off Updates with WSUSJeremy Moskowitz - November • December 2005An essential, though sometimes time-consuming, task for protecting your computing environment is to keep systems current with the latest software updates and patches. To help streamline this process, Microsoft recently released

Utility Spotlight: RunUpdates.cmdJoshua Hoffman - November • December 2005A great deal of time is often invested in determining the best ways to keep an infrastructure current, and rightfully so. In this month’s Utility Spotlight I take a look at a great way to make sure that desktops are as current as possible from the day they are deployed.